News Maarten Steinkamp appointed Interim President of Armada Music Group Steinkamp has worked closely with Armada as an interim board consultant for the past several months
News Rob Stevenson, Matt Signore launch new label ALTER, backed by Firebird Stevenson and Signore were both previously in leadership roles at 300 Entertainment
Analysis News Sony generated $2.54bn from recorded music and publishing in calendar Q1 2025; Sony Music Group predicted to grow profit by ‘high single digits’ over next 12 months Both streaming and physical recorded music sales up single digits, as publishing division posts double-digit bounce in quarter
News UK artists generated more than $1bn on Spotify in 2024, up 8% from a year earlier Spotify says the total royalty haul from UK artists has more than doubled since 2018
News SoundCloud ‘fixes’ AI policy following backlash; CEO Eliah Seton says ‘AI should support artists, not replace them’ Policy change was quietly made to SoundCloud's terms and conditions in February 2024
News Did Anthropic’s own AI generate a ‘hallucination’ in legal defense against song lyrics copyright case? Anthropic ordered to respond to claims that a data scientist it employed relied on a fictitious academic article
News Spotify expands AI DJ feature with voice-based music requests for Premium users Premium subscribers will be able to verbally customize their listening sessions
News Music publishers file amended lawsuit against AI firm Anthropic, which they say ‘bolsters the case’ over company’s ‘unauthorized use of song lyrics’ Music publishers have refiled their legal complaint against Anthropic, and the AI company has once again moved to have the case dismissed
News Universal partners with Apple Music to launch Sound Therapy wellness music collection Sound Therapy divides its offerings into three categories targeting focus, relaxation, and sleep
News Tencent Music’s ‘Super VIP’ tier drives quarterly revenues to $1bn mark as income from streaming subscriptions jumps 16.6% Company saw an 8.3% YoY increase in number of paying users, reaching 122.9 million in Q1
News Candice Watkins named President of Capitol Records Nashville and EVP of Capitol Christian Music Group Capitol Music Group is reorganizing its Nashville divisions by bringing its country and Christian music operations under a unified banner
News Sacem’s payouts to composers and publishers rose 12% to nearly $1.5bn in 2024 Sacem’s international revenues jumped 15% YoY, while domestic collections inched up 2% YoY
News UK government faces second House of Lords defeat over AI copyright rules The latest vote came shortly after more than 400 artists, creative industries workers and executives called on the UK to mandate transparency in AI training
Analysis Ed Newton-Rex: Why I’m deleting my SoundCloud account. This MBW Views op/ed comes from Ed Newton-Rex (pictured), CEO of the ethical generative AI non-profit, Fairly Trained.
News Matt Ellis appointed Chief Financial Officer of Universal Music Group Most recently, Ellis served as Executive Vice President and CFO at Verizon Communications
News Elton John, Paul McCartney among artists urging UK government to ‘protect copyright in the age of AI’ Letter to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer comes as the House of Lords prepares to vote on a contentious data bill
Analysis The importance of rejection – and being told ‘that’s impossible’: 5 things we learned from Elliot Grainge’s commencement speech Atlantic Music Group boss gave commencement speech for graduates at Northeastern University over the weekend
News SoundCloud addresses AI clause in terms of service, says it ‘has never used artist content to train AI models’ Fairly Trained founder Ed Newton-Rex spotted the update, which went largely unnoticed since it was rolled out in February 2024